“Paranormal Activity 3” had a supernatural hold on moviegoers, luring them in with a record-setting $52.6 million opening.
Monday’s final figure was slightly lower than the $54 million Sunday estimate from Paramount Pictures, but it’s still the biggest debut for a horror movie and the biggest October opening ever. The third film in the low-budget fright franchise is a prequel featuring found home-movie footage from 1988.
The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:
1. “Paranormal Activity 3,” Paramount, $52,568,183, 3321 locations, $15,829 average, $52,568,183, one week.
2. “Real Steel,” Disney, $10,824,512, 3412 locations, $3,172 average. $66,732,152, three weeks.
3. “Footloose,” Paramount, $10,351,207, 3555 locations, $2,912 average, 30,364,238, two weeks.
4. “The Three Musketeers,” Summit, $8,674,452, 3017 locations, $2,875 average, $8,674,452, one week.
5. “The Ides of March,” Sony, $4,853,051, 2042 locations, $2,377 average, $29,112,377, three weeks.
6. “Dolphin Tale,” Warner Bros., $4,217,260, 2828 locations, $1,491 average, $64,407,935, five weeks.
7. “Moneyball,” Sony, $3,981,852, 2353 locations, $1,692 average, $63,640,746, five weeks.
8. “Johnny English Reborn,” Universal, $3,833,300, 1552 locations, $2,470 average, $3,833,300, one week.
9. “The Thing,” Universal, $3,069,875, 2995 locations, $1,025 average, $14,049,220, two weeks.
10. “50/50,” Summit, $2,835,208, 1932 locations, $1,467 average, $28,820,748, four weeks.
11. “Courageous,” Sony, $2,494,020, 1195 locations, $2,087average, $24,975,186, four weeks.
12. “The Big Year,” Fox, $1,681,040,2150 locations, $782 average, $6,000,418, two weeks.
13. “The Lion King in 3-D,” Disney, $1,254,237, 1091 locations, $1,150 average, $92,608,537, six weeks.
14. “Dream House,” Universal, $1,132,170, 1224 locations, $925 average, $20,179,850, four weeks.
15. “The Mighty Macs,” Quaker Media, $963,221, 975 locations, $988 average, $963,221, one week.
16. “Contagion,” Warner Bros., $853,062, 901 locations, $947 average, $73,474,354, seven weeks.
17. “The Help,” Disney, $713,054, 776 locations, $919 average, $166,190,995, 11 weeks.
18. “Drive,” Film District, $608,534, 367 locations, $1,658 average, $33,188,983, six weeks.
19. “Abduction,” Lionsgate, $581,021, 753 locations, $772 average, $26,792,620, five weeks.
20. “Margin Call,” Roadside Attractions, $561,904, 56 locations, $10,034 average, $561,904, one week.
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Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.
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